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Richard Tice and Ed Balls erupted into a furious row over Nigel Farage's recent conference, where a doctor claimed that COVID vaccines contributed to cancer in the royal family. Dr Aseem Malhotra, a vaccine sceptic, spent around 15 minutes presenting a series of claims on the main stage of the conference in Birmingham, telling the crowd that he believed taking the jab was a "significant factor" in the diagnosis of Royal family members.

The King was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer last February and continues to undergo treatment, while the Princess of Wales was diagnosed with cancer in 2024 and has since finished her chemotherapy treatment. On Monday's (September 8) instalment of Good Morning Britain, Balls, 58, admitted he was baffled that Reform UK party members allowed the doctor to publicly share this information, adding that children could "die" if parents believe what he was saying.

He began by claiming Reform UK's health advisor took to the stage, before Tice immediately interjected: "He's not a health advisor! Ed, get a grip! He's not a health advisor."

When Ed claimed Malhotra is advising Reform UK, Tice snapped back: "Absolute rubbish!"

He continued: "Have you lost it? I believe he might help the American government. The joy of free speech is you can have people speaking at conferences and you might disagree with lots of it, but that is literally the whole purpose of free speech."

Balls responded: "Sensible Conservatives don't think the King has cancer because he's taken a COVID vaccine and when he sees your party putting it on a platform at their conference, somebody to spread that kind of misinformation, children will die if their parents don't give them the MMR vaccine."

He added: "It's really serious. It's not to be laughed at!"

Tice hit back: "The point of free speech and freedom of expression that is if someone says something that we think doesn't sound round, you've shone sunshine on that issue. It's better that than a conspiracy theory being discussed on the dark web."

A stunned Balls replied: "I'm flabbergasted."

Asked if he believes in free speech, the presenter said: "Of course I do. I totally agree with free speech. It's the idea that you, Richard Tice, think putting a vaccine sceptic on your platform to spread lies and misinformation about the King's cancer..."

Tice stepped in: "So you agree with free speech as long as you like the message. Come on, get a grip. That's exactly what you're saying, Ed."

The politician added: "You're going down Keir Starmer's route."